Lennox - 3 + 1

It is just wrong for my baby boy to look this old!!! :(

Kristy got so many cute pictures of the kids. If you live in the area, definitely check her out!

Stella - 10 months old

So... we still have sleep issues at our house. Now that I am getting home fairly early, I can get Stella to sleep so much easier. The new problem is that I can't lay her down without her waking up. If I do actually get her laid down in her bed, she wakes up within the hour. When she wakes up, she immediately stands up and starts screaming. Oh geez... I don't know what to do! She just likes to be held. I'm weak. But... poor Lennox. It is so not fair. I asked Jay last night what we were going to do about her and he said, "I guess we'll just have to let her sleep with us." Uh, I don't really call that problem-solving.

Stella is so desperate to walk. She really, really wants to but she really can't! She pulls up on everything. EVERYTHING. She cruises around the furniture. She lets go and stands alone. She tries to take a step and she freezes. It's just too scary. She loves to chase the vacuum cleaner and pull up on it then she can just hold on to it and as it rolls it drags her along. So fun!

She might be a climber. The other day I hear Lennox giggling hysterically in the living room. I figured they were playing but when I peeked around the corner, Stella was on the couch with Lennox. He swore she got up by herself. If that's the case, we're in for a treat! Time to start teaching her to get off the couch since she has apparently taught herself how to get on. I have noticed that she is more cautious than Lennox ever was. When we are playing on the bed, she always stops at the edge of the bed. Lennox wouldn't even slow down... I can't even remember how many times he fell right off the bed!

Stella enjoys sweaty walks in the yard, eating crumbs off of the kitchen floor, playing in waste baskets, eating any microscopic piece of anything off of the floor, and screaming her lungs out from her bed! ;) She is a total head butter. Sometimes I nearly think she has knocked me out and then she gives me that heart broken face (like I did it to her) before she starts wailing dramatically! She's such a girl! She loves going outside and likes to head butt most when you don't take her outside. She also likes to throw herself backwards during her fits of rage. That comes after the initial head butt. She also uses that method of fit throwing when I am trying to get her to sleep. It is serious drama. I can only imagine what the teenage years will bring!

Stella is a cutie pie. She definitely has that going for her (at least in my opinion :)). My friend Kristy (see pic above) took the kid's pictures last weekend and I have to give Stella major props (like Cher gives) for being a good photography subject. She was giving out some super cute smiles and faces. She likes to scrunch up her nose & mouth and breath in and out really fast. It's too cute. She is still making sweet eyes but sometimes she gets confused. Bri was teaching her sweet eyes by blowing in her face. I guess we blew in her face one too many times because now when you tell her to "make sweet eyes" she blows and spits in your face! ha.

Stella and Lennox do play together sometimes but it is often a battle keeping her from Lennox's latest set up. The most effective strategy I have tried is having him give her one of whatever he is playing with. He gets to choose which one. Most of the time it's the one he doesn't like but whatever. Sometimes he plans ahead which one she will get and I have even seen him pick out one she will like... not just the one he doesn't like. How considerate!

Stella is still a great eater. She eats whatever we put in front of her. If she doesn't like what she is eating, she still chews on it for a while then takes it out, looks at it, puts it back in. Too funny. I guess she thinks she has no choice? Like I said, she likes to scavenge off of the floor like a little puppy dog. She hurries and puts whatever she finds in her mouth so I can't take it from her!

Stella has 2 bottom teeth and one tooth on top... It's the one next to her front teeth! ha. The other one just popped through too so I guess she'll look like a tiny vampire. SHe says "mama," "dada," "bye bye," and "ball." I think she says "hey" and she definitely calls Lennox in her own language. She is a big talker. She yells alot. ALOT.

Lennox in his "uniform" heading to the doctor's office

What's in the "pillow bag?" I know that looks dangerous but he insists!

From the looks of things, this girl "needs" a mess too.

She LOVES her spaghetti

She doesn't really love her sunglasses

Stella loves going outside. If I walk by the door and don't go out, she starts head butting and throwing herself backwards and screaming. She is serious about what she wants and when she wants it. This week she has started slamming her face down on the floor. Yeah. It has to hurt but what are you supposed to do?!

and the photo shoot is over!

Vacation

snoozing with Aunt Debbie

Lennox loves to swim. He likes to take his floaties off and "swim" but he doesn't exactly come up for air.

This is our vacation family picture! ha. I think it pretty much speaks for itself.

playing at Lulu's

Tiffany & Shelly

Sweating it out at Lulu's

I dyed my hair reddish brown right before vacation... it has faded alot. I like it now that it has faded.

We went on vacation to Gulf Shores at the end of July. It was really alot of fun. Unfortunately most of my pictures won't load on blogger (I don't know why) but Pat, Blake, Jordan, & Jenson were all there too. Lennox & Jenson had a great time playing in the lazy river and on the water slides. The beach itself wasn't really too spectacular with Stella. She didn't really like vacation too much. She decided she didn't really care for sleeping in the condo. That made life a little bit more difficult but we still enjoyed spending time with family!

Lennox ran outside and around to the backyard. I chased after him and said "Lennox! You better get your tail in this house NOW!" He started running really fast with a big grin and said, "OK, but I don't have a tail!"

Did That Just Happen???

Two Things:

1. Friday, my mom and I went to Sam's with the kids. My mission was to get everything for Lennox's birthday party. I love to buy in bulk! :) I accomplished my mission and my buggy was overflowing. Since everyone was starving, we stopped to eat some pizza on the way out. My mom decided that it would be easier for me if she took her buggy to the car and picked me and the kids up at the door. I insisted that she not do that. She insisted that it would be easier. I insisted it really wouldn't. Anyway, she went to the car and left me with the kids and my buggy because it would be easier if she pulled up to the door. Ok, whatever. I started wiping Lennox down since he was covered in pizza sauce. I had Stella in the front of the buggy but Lennox was free to roam. I was barely able to steer my 500 lb buggy to the receipt checking lady all while trying to keep my 3 year old from maneuvering out of the door and into the parking lot without me. Since Sam's was PACKED, we waited in line for a couple of minutes. I got some looks of sympathy that I have seen before when I am in public with my kids. The line quickly filled up behind me. When it was almost my turn to turn over my receipt, Lennox slipped out of my hand, whipped around my back, and then I felt it. A cool whiff of a breeze. On my legs. And up my back. The breeze was my dress flying up to my armpits as my 3 year old found his favorite hiding place... under my dress!!! All I could think was "oh my Lord, did that just happen?!" I turned around to face the people behind me in line and the expressions on their faces confirmed that, Yes. That did just happen. The older lady behind me snickered and said, "well, that wasn't very nice!" The old men behind her just stood with their mouth gaping open. I left Sam's with alot more groceries and a little less dignity!


2. Today Jay was mowing our overgrown yard. Lennox likes to ride the mower with Jay but he always gets off when he gets "all sweaty." I was getting ready to go to a JA meeting and I saw Lennox on the back porch. His underwear was around his knees and he was sitting down squirting his foot with a squirt bottle. I thought, "how cute. He's trying to clean the grass off of his feet before he comes inside." I continued getting ready and came back through the living room to find Lennox standing in the middle of the room saying something about poopoo. I said, "Do you have to poopoo?" He said, "No. I just poopooed in the yard." I said, "you poopooed in the yard? Why?" Lennox said, "Yeah, I poopooed in the yard and then I stepped on it. But I squirted it off my poot." My thought? OH GROSS!!! Are you really standing on my living room rug with your own poop on your foot? After he took me outside and showed me the flattened poop in the yard (technically the flower bed), it was confirmed that yes, that really did happen!
   

Last night, as the sun was setting, Lennox looked out of the back window (which faces East) and he got so excited. He said, "Oh... I see pink. I see PINK! I need to get out there and see the sunset!" while he was frantically trying to unlock the backdoor. I led him out of the front door (which faces West) so he could see the sunset better. It was just the cutest moment. He was running from the front yard to the back yard, yelling about the sunset. He was saying "I see a-nudder sunset!" Then he would run to the back and say, "Look! There's a-nudder one here! God made the sunset!" He was so pumped up that he almost ran in front of Jay's truck when he drove up the driveway. Before Jay could even get the door open, Lennox was yelling and pointing and saying, "God made that sunset, daddy. God made it pink!" I was just watching him the whole time (except when he was about to get run over) and thinking how grateful I am to have him. I know that sounds lame but I can't imagine how uninteresting my days would be if he were not part of them. I can't even begin to count the times I've driven home, facing the sunset, and never even acknowledged how pretty it was or that God made it. I am always thankful when my children open my eyes to the real world!